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Team BMC Racing's Cadel Evans Wins 2012 Criterium International

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Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) on his way to the overall victory in the 2012 Criterium International. Photo Graham Watson.

Team BMC Racing's Cadel Evans Wins 2012 Criterium International

Team BMC Racing's defending Tour de France champion Cadel Evans answered every challenge on the climb to the finish line in today's final stage of the Criterium International - on the way to winning the race for his first time.

Team BMC Racing's defending Tour de France champion Cadel Evans answered every challenge on the climb to the finish line in today's final stage of the Criterium International - on the way to winning the race for his first time.

Evans placed fourth in a four-up sprint that was won by Pierrick Fedrigo of Team FDJ-BigMat to take the overall victory by just eight seconds over Fedrigo. AG2R's Jean-Christophe Peraud finished 2nd in the sprint ahead of Christopher Froome of Team Sky.

Evans took the lead of the two-day, three stage race by winning yesterday afternoon's 6.8 kilometer stage 2 individual time trial by just 0.3 seconds over Michael Rogers of Team Sky Procycling. "Yesterday was a good indication and a nice confidence boost," Evans told the media representatives after being celebrated on the podium on Corsica and added "Sometimes things go well and it all comes together. Up until this point, I had trouble bringing things together. But I knew to keep working at it and things would come together. It's a good indication, but we have big races still to come."

In the final 14 kilometers, Evans was first assisted by BMC teammate Brent Bookwalter, then Marco Pinotti and finally Amaël Moinard. With 18 riders within 15 seconds of the lead, the BMC Racing Team riders kept the pace high to ward off attacks from teams such as Euskaltel-Euskadi and Colombia-Coldeportes on the Col de l'Ospedale ascent leading up to the finish line. Evans says he's satisfied with the performance of and support from his teammates in today's stage.

"As a team we worked really well today," Evans said and continued "Today, the young guys started out and I think for them it was an honor for them to ride in a part of France for the yellow jersey."

When the road pitched steeply upward inside the final three kilometers, Evans put in a dig of his own to reduce a group of less than ten to the final four, which did not include main overall competitor Rogers - who was tied with him on time in the overall rankings.

"As a race with three short stages, it's sometimes a little bit difficult to manage with the time bonuses and a mountain top finish," Evans said. Until Sunday, Evans' previous best placing in two appearances at Criterium International was a sixth place finish in 2010.